History

Details

GV II
Public Library. 1892 by Bridgman and Goss, extended 1904 by Goss with funding from Andrew Carnegie, and in 1922-3 by A.G. Porri. Red brick with stone dressings, tiled roof. 2 storeys.
EXTERIOR: Central 5-window range, inscribed 'PUBLIC LIBRARY' in first-floor band, flanked by 3-storey gabled wings, the ground floor with opening top-lights and blind boxes, the first floor with casements. Double panelled door to left with heavy stone porch and balustrade set on console brackets.
1922-3 extension to right houses the War Memorial Hall and present entrance. Double doors set within a rectangular surround below the borough arms and a shallow niche inscribed 'PRO PATRIA'; this set between pilasters carrying an open segmental pediment. This frontispiece terminates in a plinth with bronze wreaths flanking the dates 1914-18; similar composition on return elevation, beyond which flat pilasters and square metal ground-floor casements denote the 1904 work.
INTERIOR: The Memorial Hall has a marble floor and stone-faced walls with pilasters and entablature, alabaster panels inscribed with the borough's war dead, and a vaulted roof supporting an oval glazed dome with original hanging light. Entablature over doorway leading to library interior is inscribed 'ALL YE WHO PASS IN QUEST OF HAPPY HOURS, BEHOLD THE PRICE AT WHICH THESE HOURS WERE BOUGHT'.
HISTORY: 1904 extension including lecture hall and children's room were funded by Andrew Carnegie. Extension was opened October 1925 by Councillor C. Maude Eve. J.P.

Included as an early and good example of a borough library, which contains an exceptional war memorial hall.

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